Promotion

Gravity actress decided, more plot revealed

It looks like since Angelina Jolie turned down Alfonso Cuarón's Gravity film twice, and a choice couldn't be made on a whole range of actresses who were supposedly looked at for the role, a possible choice has finally been made. Maybe.

What's interesting is that they're back to one of the names on that list that appeared after Jolie refused the first time. At the same time there's a run through of the plot that appeared in an earlier script review.

First up let's look at that actress, you can read all about the multiple choices and the journey the casting has been through in a previous Filmstalker feature questioning the reliance on big name film stars, and funnily enough her name appears in that list that appeared between Angelina Jolie refusals. Natalie Portman.

It's a rumour for now, but The Hollywood Reporter Risky Business has a story that Portman is being offered the role right now based on the early reviews coming from Darren Aronofsky's Black Swan. They say that since the film has been getting such positive reviews at the Telluride screenings that the studio told Alfonso Cuarón that he could offer her the role without the need to screen test. So she's expected to read the latest script shortly.

On that point it appears that an early version of the script for Gravity was reviewed by ScriptShadow through /Film a few days ago and so the story for Gravity has been revealed.

There are some changes being made in the latest rewrites but the general plot is this. A Space Shuttle crew are repairing something in space, the early draft says the shuttle itself, but in later drafts this is said to be the Hubble telescope, when the Russians blow something up in space that causes a chain reaction and results in space debris being shot outwards, colliding with satellites, more debris, suddenly there's a lot of deadly rubbish flying around up there in unpredictable paths.

Outside on a space walk are engineer Ryan Stone, the female lead, and a veteran astronaut Matt Kowalski and while they survive the debris it results in the destruction of the Shuttle and the crew.

From here we find that Stone is somehow left out alone and has to make a space walk of mammoth proportions from where she is to the International Space Station. She does this by using anything that happens to be in orbit along with her, satellites, debris, oxygen tanks, etc., anything that will get her to the ISS.

There's also a suggestion that there's going to be a twenty minute long single take shot at the opening of the film, something that isn't surprising from Alfonso Cuarón, and a further suggestion that the film might be in real time.

Now that would be an interesting addition to the story for the character would be fighting against time for her own oxygen, as well as intercepting the ISS orbit. Everything would against the clock.

Throw in 3D and huge amounts of CG (provided by British company Framestone) and you can see that the actress isn't going to be leading the film alone, it's not going to be something like Moon (Filmstalker review) where we're wholly concentrated on them, there's going to be plenty to keep us occupied other than just the main character, but still, they're a major part of the film.

To me that sounds great, and I have to wonder what the problem was with getting a lead for the film.